The Extremes Of Truth-Telling Explored

Lynn, my new radio show studio manager, was surprised that I was shocked to learn that she lied, more often than not, to her kids.

(You can read about the “happening” of that discovery on this blog, in the section identified as Friday, June 28.)

 I was astonished to discover she saw nothing wrong with this state of affairs.

She was mystified at my amazement, having assumed that she and I were like-minded on things of this nature, especially as we had shared quite a few years of Truth Or Dare GAME playing, as far back as the ‘90s.

I was startled to find that she had spent the many hours she had in the GAME and New Horizons GAME support groups without knowing that the main agenda of these was truth-telling, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 

Pursuing this track of discourse I came to realize that back in the former days of our GAME, circa 1976 -- 2003, I had not yet identified, either for myself or the others, that getting to “The best obtainable version of the truth,” was of the highest priority to be gained from the process.

That would come later.

Now I know!

Might it actually have taken my experience of going through my Ethics Complaint ordeal of 2018 to heighten my awareness of this?

I’ve been wondering about it.

Or had my devotion to the GAME always been predicated on how it had, from the very first time I experienced it, provided me with a solid, reliable pathway out of all I knew of darkness, up to that point, initially by instinct, later out of the scientific, psycho-social and spiritual foundations I would come to embrace as most dependable? 

(My first GAME experience was in 1976 in an Asklepeion-model GAME I played with convicts – and TA (Transactional Analysis) colleagues of mine, running it at the James River Penitentiary in Richmond, Virginia.) 

I could attempt to answer these very deep, probing questions by writing, as I often do. Perhaps I could even, with enough words, come close to an enhanced clarity that would satisfy my curious mind.

That would not, however, be enough for me, as I want to share my genuinely satisfactory answers with others, believing there is much of value to be learned from them. And doing so would take at least one full book. I am not quite yet ready to take up this project though I am playing around with it, with a working title of “How Watergate Helped Me Break The Corruption Code Of My Family,” as, indeed, what that GAME day brought me was to, over time, alter the course of my life.

Furthermore, my immediate quest is far more directed toward gaining an understanding of how it is that Lynn and I, like-minded in so many ways, loving one another as client and friend for close to thirty years now, could end up at such extreme ends from one another on the importance truth-telling plays in our lives? Especially as we have shared many hours in New Horizons Truth Or Dare GAME (originally called the Discount Derby for reasons I will explain at some point). 

If I asked Lynn what she thinks might account for this, which actually I have, she would likely respond with something such as –

“Well, Anastasia, in thirty years we have both done a lot of growing. Some of it similar. Some of it with very different priorities.”

A larger question, however, looms in my mind, along with this.

What does it mean, beyond Lynn and I, beyond New Horizons Truth Or Dare GAME, beyond New Horizons developing collaboration with the Pro-Truth Pledge, in an era of U.S. crises, with lying, divisiveness and cruelty being pivotal elements, now of epidemic proportions in our country, for people, any two or more, to be so extremely opposite in addressing the importance of truth-telling for helping us to move beyond these difficulties?

New Horizons “expanded” Pro-Truth Pledge, supported by the “original” Pro-Truth Pledge suggests that we “Honor Truth Because…”

• Human dignity and respect require truth telling;
• Truth and truth-telling bring order out of chaos to human affairs.

So what’s the deal here?

I am open to finding answers to these questions. And I am committed to bridging the gaps such as Lynn and I have on this issue.  She is too. No wonder we’re still loving each other after all these many years.

Be sure to hear Lynn and I, on our forthcoming radio show as we begin exploring the dangers of truth-telling and how we might be able to move beyond these. So that truth-telling can truly set us free,, without undue harm, with a majority of people being of like-mind on the issue.